From Biomimicking to Bioinspired Design of Electrocatalysts for CO2 Reduction to C1 Products

Abstract

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2RR) is a promising approach to maintain a carbon cycle balance and produce value-added chemicals. However, CO2RR technology is far from mature, since the conventional CO2RR electrocatalysts suffer from low activity (leading to currents <10 mA cm−2 in an H-cell), stability (<120 h), and selectivity. Hence, they cannot meet the requirements for commercial applications (>200 mA cm−2, >8000 h, >90 % selectivity). Significant improvements are possible by taking inspiration from nature, considering biological organisms that efficiently catalyze the CO2 to various products. In this minireview, we present recent examples of enzyme-inspired and enzyme-mimicking CO2RR electrocatalysts enabling the production of C1 products with high faradaic efficiency (FE). At present, these designs do not typically follow a methodical approach, but rather focus on isolated features of biological systems. To achieve disruptive change, we advocate a systematic design methodology that leverages fundamental mechanisms associated with desired properties in nature and adapts them to the context of engineering applications.